Afromarengo

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Afromarengo
Afromarengo coriacea 313289283 565747378.jpg
Male A. coriacea from South Africa
Afromarengo coriacea - Rudolph Steenkamp - 176139395.jpeg
Female A. coriacea
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Afromarengo
Benjamin, 2004 [1]
Type species
A. coriacea
(Simon, 1900)
Species

4, see text

Afromarengo is a genus of jumping spiders, was first described by S. P. Benjamin in 2004. [2] The name is derived from "Africa" and the genus Marengo . The genus Indomarengo is similarly named.

Contents

Life style

Spiders in this genus are arboreal, sampled from low-growing shrub foliage to tree canopies and occasionally from tree bark. [3]

Wanless mentioned that it mimics ants or pseudoscorpions. Afromarengo coriacea mimics smaller arboreal ants such as Crematogaster , with which they were regularly collected. [3]

Description

Juvenile male A. coriacea Afromarengo coriacea 316218177 571312440.jpg
Juvenile male A. coriacea

These are small to medium spiders measuring 2.7 to 4.0 mm in males and 2.6 to 3.5 mm in females. Sexes are similar in general body shape. [3]

Afromarengo can be distinguished from all other Ballinae by the asymmetrical scales on the body. [3]

The cephalothorax is somewhat flattened and elongate-oval, truncated at the front and round at the rear, with integument bearing small papillae and larger piliferous papillae, numerous in the ocular area and fewer in the thoracic area. The abdomen is ovoid, with a dorsal scutum in males. [3]

The front legs are long and more robust than the others, with the front leg's femur, patella and tibia swollen and clothed with dense, long setae ventrally. [3]

The pedipalp bears a long spiraling embolus, and the epigyne has a distinct posterior border, scattered papillae, and absence of a median septum. [3]

Species

As of October 2025, this genus includes four species: [1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Gen. Afromarengo Benjamin, 2004". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-10-07.
  2. ↑ Benjamin, S. P. (2004). "Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic hypothesis for the jumping spider subfamily Ballinae (Araneae, Salticidae)" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 142: 1–82. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00123.x.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Van der Walt, V.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2025). The Salticidae of South Africa. Part 1 (A-Den). Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 17. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15222559. Creative Commons by small.svg  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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